An old love
by Eric Border
Summary: The Joker is thought to be dead and batman rehabilitates Harley and falls in love with her but when Alfred falls ill, Bruce has no choice but to trust a man named Jack Napier to take Alfred's place. But Jack Napier is not who he says he is. Based after Joker: Death of the family.
1. Jack Napier

Harley and Bruce were sitting next to Alfred's bed, he had been sick for days and it didn't look like it was letting up anytime soon. Harley had been living with Bruce Wayne since he had rehabilitated her after the Joker died and they started dating, she turned to Bruce.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I ran some tests…he's been poisoned" Bruce replied

Harley was shocked and confused "Who would poison Alfred? None of your enemies know you're Batman…Do they?"

"Selina wouldn't do this and certainly none of the Bat family would. I can't imagine anyone who knew I was Batman that would do this"

"Master Bruce" Alfred said weakly

"Alfred take it easy, please, for me" Bruce replied

"I know someone to take my place to care for you while I recover"

"Alfred, I don't need someone to take your place" Bruce replied

"Master Bruce I don't know how long it will take for me to get better, I promised your parents that I would make sure you were safe and god dammit I will do whatever it takes"

Bruce sighed "Fine if it will stop you from stressing yourself, who is it?" Bruce asked taking out his phone.

"His name is Jack Napier, I've been told by a close friend he is someone we can trust"

"Ok" Bruce said as he took the man's phone number, he left Harley to care for Alfred as he left the room to call Jack Napier. He listened to the phone ring for a while until he heard the sound of the phone being answered.

" _Hello, Jack Napier speaking"_ Bruce heard from the other side of the phone.

"Yes this is Bruce Wayne from Wayne Enterprises"

" _Oh yes, good afternoon Mr Wayne is there something I can do for you?"_

"My butler Alfred Pennyworth is unwell and he suggest you to take his place while he recovers, would you be able to do that?"

" _I would be honoured"_

"I don't mean to be any trouble but could you by any chance come over as soon as possible? We can give you one of the spare rooms"

" _Of course, I'll be right over"_

"Thank you" Bruce said hanging up the phone and walking back into Alfred's bedroom where Harley was holding a cold rag on Alfred's forehead.

"What did Mr Napier say?" Harley asked

"He said he'll be over as soon as possible"

"It's good to know you'll be taken care of Master Bruce"

"I would have been fine but as long as it helps you recover"

Harley and Bruce left Alfred to rest and closed the door to the bedroom when they heard the door knock.

"I think Mr Napier is here" Bruce said approaching the door, Harley followed closely behind Bruce. He opened the door to reveal an extremely tall pale man with brown hair and green eyes. He wore a black suit and tie and a dark grey shirt.

"You must be Jack Napier" Bruce said holding out his hand towards the man.

"Yes and you're Master Wayne of course" he said shaking Bruce's hand, he then turned to Harley "And you must be Miss Quinzel" he said holding out his hand towards Harley, she shook it timidly and he smiled at her so wide it was unnatural. She shuddered at the reminder of The Joker.

"I…prefer Harley"

"Of course Miss Harley" he said as he bowed to her politely still smiling at her. Harley moved closer to Bruce holding onto his arm, Jack's smile fell and turn into seriousness. Harley thought he looked even more serious than Bruce and that was saying something.

"This way, I'll show you your room" Bruce said leading Jack into the mansion, Harley follow staying close to Bruce.

Bruce whispered to Harley "Harley, is there something wrong? You seem shy tonight"

"I don't know, something about him makes me…uncomfortable"

"I know what you mean but Alfred suggested him so we may as well deal with it"

They stopped at one of the spare rooms, Bruce opened the door and let Jack into his room.

"You can stay here for the meantime"

"Thank you, that's very kind of you Master Wayne"

"I know that Christmas is coming up soon and I suppose that you would want to go visit your family" Bruce stated.

"Family?" Jack replied uncomfortably putting down his suit case

"Yes, you have family right?" Harley asked

"Uhh no, they umm they pay me to stay away from them" Jack said unpacking his things

"That's terrible"

"Oh don't worry about me my dear, I'm here to take care of you and Master Wayne. It is not my place to bring my personal life to work"

"Ok well…I'll leave you to unpack" Harley said walking towards the door, she stopped at the door way and turned around to face him again "You remind me of someone"

"Oh…I do?" he asked finishing his packing and walking towards her

"Yeah but I can't figure out who" Harley said studying him closely.

Jack walked past her to exit the room and whisper to her "I can think of couple of people toots" he grinned at her walking down the hallway.

"What did you just call me?!" Harley asked slightly offended

"Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how big this mansion is!" He yelled back to her as he left down the hall, she swore she could hear him chuckling as he left.

Later that night Jack had made tea for Harley and Bruce and was serving it to them when Bruce noticed the time.

"Oh! I didn't realise the time, I need to go to work"

"Aww come on Brucie, can't you take the night off? We could go have some fun?" Harley said seductively.

Jack spilled the hot tea on Bruce's lap when he heard what Harley said, she gasped as Bruce yelled in pain "Sorry Master Wayne, I've been feeling a bit off today" Jack said handing Bruce a napkin to clean his lap.

"That's quite alright, that reminds me I will need you to help me with my work and Alfred said you were trustworthy" Bruce said cleaning the tea off his lap.

"Yes, of course Master Wayne"

"Bruce I don't think it's a good idea to tell him" Harley began

"Alfred suggested him and I hold all my trust that Alfred made the right decision"

"Tell me what?" Jack asked curiously

"I'm Batman" Bruce said firmly, Jack was speechless as he stared in shock at Bruce "I need you at the Bat computer to help me through the night and if you tell anyone my identity I swear you'll regret it"

"My lips are sealed" Jack said as he let a small chuckle escape him.

 **Two weeks later**

Bruce was sitting at the bat computer muttering to himself, Harley approached him.

"Something bothering you?"

"Yes there are some files missing from the bat computer but no one has been on here" Bruce said noting down all the missing files "Most of them are Jokers files"

"I'm telling you, it's that Jack character he gives me the creeps"

"How so?"

"He reminds me of…of…"

"Who?" Bruce asked turning around to her.

"He reminds me of… **him**. I know, I know, it sounds stupid because he has his hair shaved around the sides and Jay…uhh Joker would never do that but I can't help but think that…" she trailed off as she considered the idea that the Joker wasn't dead after all.

Bruce stood up and embraced her "He's gone Harley, you don't need to be scared anymore"

"What?! Who said Jay scared me?!" she asked pulling away from him.

"Harley, I didn't mean to…"

"You know what?! I honestly don't care! You were just another person who didn't understand our relationship!"

"You call what you had with that maniac a relationship?!"

"He loved me and you killed him!"

"He never loved you Harleen!"

"How would you know?!"

At that moment they realized that Jack was standing in the door way holding two tray with Harley and Bruce's Breakfast on them.

"Is this a bad time?" he asked setting down the trays on the desk.

"No Jack its fine, thank you for bringing us breakfast"

Jack noticed that Harley seemed upset "Is something wrong Miss Quinn?"

"No Jack I'm fine" Harley said storming out the room.

Jack sighed and turned to Bruce "Jee woman, can't live with them, can't live without them"

Bruce looked at him carefully as he picked up Harley's breakfast probably to take it to Harley where ever she ran off to "You're not by any chance tied or related to…The Joker by any chance?"

"No Master Wayne and I hope I never meet the bastard" Jack replied formally, it seemed enough to convince Bruce so he went back to the Bat computer as Jack walked out the exit talking quietly to himself.

"Not long now, all it takes is a little push" he chuckled as he walked to Harley's room where he could hear her sobbing. He set the tray down on Harley's side table as she cried into her pillow "Is there anything I can get you Miss Quinn? A glass of water perhaps?"

"No I'm fine" Harley sniffed "And you can call me Harley…Just Harley"

"Of course Miss Qui…Harley" He said cleaning up things off Harleys floor when she noticed a bag hanging out his back pocket, she grabbed it from his pants out of curiosity and he turned around to look at her quickly.

"What's this?" she asked but she already knew what if was…poison…particularly the type that was used to poison Alfred.

"I don't know" he looked confused "Now where did that come from?" he asked taking it from her examining it.

"Don't play dumb with me" she said sternly

"Harley, I honestly don't know what this is. I don't exactly specialize in chemistry my dear"

"You poisoned Alfred!" she yelled

"Miss Quinn please calm down, I don't know where this came from or how it got in my suit pocket" he said trying not to raise his voice.

"Fine but if you give me any more reason for me to suspect you of something, you'll be dealt with" she threated.

"Yes, I understand Miss Quinn" he said leaving the room with the bag, Harley followed him and to her surprise he gave it to Bruce for him to dispose of properly but Harley still suspected he was not who he was saying he was.


	2. It'll be just like old times

Harley was running through the mansion crying again after another fight with Bruce. The fact that this man, Jack, looked so much like the Joker it was tearing Bruce and Harley apart. Harley ran into one of the bedrooms to think about how Jack looked anything like Joker.

 _No no, he can't be Jay, something about Jack is just so…different. Well apart from the brown hair and flesh colored skin but the way he acts is different. He's kind and formal and if Jay was anything it was not formal._

Harley chuckled at that last thought until she noticed where she was, she was in Jack's room.

 _Oh no, I-I'm in_ _ **his room**_

It took a moment for Harley to calm down she was afraid of **him,** after Harley calmed down she decided to take it as an opportunity to look around for any hints that he wasn't who he said he was. She was especially looking for things that pointed to the Joker, she walked around the room and noticed it was particularly clean.

 _Jay wouldn't be this clean, maybe Jack is telling the…_

Her thoughts trailed off as she looked over at the bathroom door that was open not enough to see in but open none the less. Harley walked over to it, she listened to make sure no one was inside and when she had confirmed that she wouldn't walk in to the sight of a butt naked Jack Napier she opened the door. It was a mess inside the bathroom, there were boxes cast along the floor and bottles messily place on the sink. She took a closer look at some of the boxes on the floor to reveal that they were skin pigmentation drugs, people would use them to temporarily change the tone of their skin color. She than looked at the bottles on the counter and they were muscle relaxants, pretty straight forward.

 _Oh my god, its-its_ _ **him**_ **,** _Jack Napier is The Joker!...wait…this means Jay is alive! How did he survive the fall though? Screw that all that matters is my Mr J is alive but first I need Jack to admit that he is Jay._

Harley ran into Bruce's office to talk to him, he was sitting at his desk talking on the phone to Lucius Fox. Harley bounced up and down in emergency, Bruce ended the call as quick as he could so he could hear what Harley needed to tell him.

"Yes Harley what is it?" Bruce asked

"Jack is The Joker! I found muscle relaxants and skin pigmentation drugs in his bathroom and I wouldn't be surprised if there was hair dye in there as well but what I don't understand is why he's been pretending to be Jack Napier" she replied all to quickly

"Ok ok, take me to his bathroom and we'll have a look" Bruce said standing up, Harley began leading him to Jack's bathroom.

"You better believe me"

"I don't think that The Joker being alive is something someone would joke about"

They got to Jack's bathroom and Harley noticed that all the boxes and bottles were gone, there was also no hair dye anywhere in the bathroom.

"It was here! I know it was! I saw it!" Harley said looking through all the draws.

"Harley I think you're just paranoid"

"No! Bruce you've got to believe me! Jack is The Joker!" she said as she made a mess in the bathroom looking through the draws.

"Is there something you need?" came the familiar voice from the door way, Jack was standing at the door with a confused look on his face.

"It's ok Jack, Harley's just been a bit paranoid lately"

"Where did you put it all?!" Harley yelled at Jack

"All of what?" Jack asked slightly intimidated

"The relaxants and pigmentation medications"

"I wouldn't know, I don't use unnecessary medications" Jack finally answered

"Oh but they are necessary aren't they to make sure no one knows your identity…your **real** identity"

"Miss Quinn what on earth are you on about?"

" **Don't fuck with me Jay!"** Harley yelled at Jack

"Miss Quinn I don't know anyone named Jay"

"Jay, I'm not in the mood to be pissed off" she was completely sure that the man standing in front of her was Jay. Bruce picked her up and swung her over his shoulder. She started to kick and scream as he carried her out of Jacks bedroom. Harley looked up to see Jack grinning at her as the Joker would.

"Put me down you bastard!" Harley screamed and Bruce put Harley down.

"Harley you're paranoid"

"I'M NOT PARANOID, I KNOW JACK NAPIER IS THE JOKER AND HE'S UP TO SOMETHING!"

Suddenly a gloved hand grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth, _Jack_ Harley thought _is he finally going to cut his losses and kill me already?_ She then realised that the gloved hand was holding something, a cloth was being held over her mouth. She smelt chemicals _chloroform, why would he chloroform me if he wants to…_ she heard a silent chuckling next to her ear.

"Sleep tight" Jack chuckled, she noticed that Bruce was on the ground next to her _Dammit he knocked out Bruce while I was screaming._ She fell unconscious from the high dosage of chloroform, the last thing she saw was Jack looming over her with that Joker smile on his face.

 **Joker's warehouse**

Bruce awoke in a warehouse tied up to a chair, Harley was next to him looking horrified at something in front of him. He looked forward, Jack was grinning at him waving his hand slowly in front of his face. He was smiling wider now, the muscle relaxant must have worn off.

"Bruuuce, Bruuuuccceee, can ya hear me…Bruce?" Jack asked getting closer to Bruce's face, Bruce head butted Jack and he fell backwards onto the floor.

"Why Jack?! Did **he** get you to…" Bruce began before Jack interrupted him.

" **He?** You really don't recognise me do you Bats" he said standing up "Then again I didn't think you would, there were the muscle relaxant that wore off a while ago, hard to keep my face this way if I'm honest. And the skin, do you know how much Afamelanotide and such I had to take? Today is just make up so I stood at a distance but still…" Bruce looked at him in shock, half of his face was bone white where he had head butted him. Jack took out a mirror and looked at the side of his face "Well may as well go all the way" Jack said as he picked up a bucket of water pouring it over his head. His hair instantly turn green, the remaining make up washed off and his notorious smile returned to his face.

Bruce looked up at him in horror "H-how are y-you alive?"

"Oh don't look so surprised Bats! You knew this would happen sooner or later, you knew somewhere deep inside you" Joker said leaning over Bruce.

"What do you want?" Bruce asked in fear of the response

"Guess who knows who batman is?" Joker said chuckling.

Bruce realised what he meant, _I told him that I am Batman and I let_ _ **him**_ _on the_ _ **bat computer**_ **"** No" was all Bruce managed to say.

"Master Bruce forgive me, this is all my fault. I let this monster into your home" Bruce and Harley recognised the voice as Alfred's. Joker walked towards another chair where Alfred was chained down.

"What did I say about talking" Joker asked in a firm tone

Alfred spat in his face "Leave now you bastard"

The Joker chuckled as he wiped the spit off his face "I burned your eyes with ammonia and look I'll do it again! Just for fun!" Joker laughed manically as he poured the bleach into his eyes.

"Get away from him" Bruce said through clenched teeth.

"Alfie!" Harley yelled and started to cry.

"And you" Joker said pointing to Harley "You little slut, I'm not happy with you"

"W-what?" Harley asked sniffling

"I go away and all of a sudden you got new friends, even picked a new guy!" He said

"I did it for you baby, who else would I lie for?" he looked at her unconvinced, she leaned in as far as she could with the chains restraining her "Nobody, that's who" she said seductively into his ear, he shuddered.

She kissed his neck "It'll be just like old times" she whispered.


	3. Admitted

Bruce and Harley had been left in the same warehouse for what felt like a week now, they occasionally saw The Joker every now and then but he never made the effort to talk to them or even torture then. Bruce had known the Joker long enough to know that was unusual behaviour, he had a bad feeling about this. He began to notice that Harley looked at the Joker in adoration whenever he was in the room.

"Harley you need to refrain from crawling back to him"

Harley didn't respond as she watch the Joker come into the room holding a bag of food, he grabbed a chair and sat down in front of Bruce and Harley. All he did was look at them eating what looked like a hamburger. Bruce starred back at him wondering why he was being so calm.

"What? You want some?" Joker asked holding the hamburger in front of Bruce's face.

"I do!" called Harley happily.

"I was asking bats you dumb blond" Joker growled smacking Harley in the back of the head.

"What you are you doing?" Bruce asked through a clench jaw "What do you want?"

"Oh I'm just waiting for someone very special" Joker said, he smiled and patted Bruce on the check.

They heard someone come through the door of the ware house, Joker stood up and smiled wider when he saw who was at the door "Karlo! Long-time, no see!"

"What do you want?" came clay faces deep voice.

"Aww no welcome back hug?"

"Just tell me what you want me to do"

"Ok ok, come 'ere" Joker said waving Clay face over to Alfred "I need you to impersonate this guy" Joker poked Alfred who was unconscious.

"Why would you want me to impersonate a butler?"

"Here I'll tell you" Joker said putting his arm over clay faces back, as Joker explained what they were doing to Clay face, Bruce could see Clay faces grin growing wider by the minute.

"I got a bad feeling about this" Bruce muttered

"He's so smart" Harley sighed as she stared at Joker

The Joker finished talking to Clay Face and went to the corner of the room where a metal bat was leaning against the wall. He picked it up and walked over to Bruce and Harley hitting it softly on his hand.

"Batter up" Joker chuckled as he slammed the bat into Bruce's temple and everything went black.

Bruce regained consciousness, he looked around drowsily at his surroundings. He was on a stage with a large crowd in front of it, all staring at him. He could feel that he was still restrained like before but it felt different, it was then that he realised he wasn't restrained by a chain but by a strait jacket. He looked around again. Harley was sitting next to him still unconscious and there were a number of seats on the side of the stage where Dr Leland, Commissioner Gordon and a few other doctors and officers. He continued to look at who was sitting there and his heart sank Dr Crane, Selina Kyle, two face, Alfred? and…Jack! Joker was wearing his disguise again and people actually believed him! Dr Crane stood up and walked to the podium in the middle of the stage.

"The human mind is extremely fragile, if you put too much pressure on it, it will snap" Crane explained snapping his fingers at the word snap "It was clear ever since his parents were murdered in crime alley that Bruce was mentally unstable. But because of his high authority and continuously insisting that he was mentally sound we have all decided to ignore it and look what's happened now, he's decided to take the law into his own hands by dressing up like a bat and beating the mentally ill within an inch of their life. Apparently he is on a crusade for justice but the way I see it and the way all of you should see it is he is on a crusade for revenge, he is making the mentally ill pay for things they have even done. These problems will not fix themselves, we must take action."

The crowd cheered in agreement, Bruce was shocked. Jack and 'Alfred' stood up and took Cranes place.

"I have worked for the Wayne family for many years, I gave them all of my loyalty. When Master Bruce's parents died I did everything in my power to prevent him from…" Alfred looked at Bruce "Turning into…this but now I realise I have failed and we all need to stop ignoring it and…put him in Arkham for the sake of everyone"

Jack then took the microphone.

"I hadn't worked for Master Bruce for long, only for about a month. I was honoured to serve the famous Bruce Wayne. Unfortunately to Master Wayne I resembled the homicidal mad man The Joker, after a while he started accusing me of being The Joker who we all know died one and a half years ago…"

Bruce interrupted him now seeing what Jack was doing "No this is the Joker and this is not Alfred Pennyworth it's Clay Face! How can you not see this?!" Jack sighed and nodded to two doctors that were sitting next to him.

"Take him to arkham" The doctors stood up and dragged Bruce into the back of a patient transport van. Soon after Harley was thrown in beside him. Crane sat in the driver's seat, Alfred sat in the passenger's seat and Jack climbed into the back of the van with Harley and Bruce.

"Please don't take me back to Arkham Jay !" Harley pleaded

"Shut up!" Jack yelled.

"Please baby, forgive me" Harley said curling up to Jack.

"Get off you stupid dame!" Jack said slapping Harley off of him, he turned to Bruce "So Bruce, how do you feel hm? Being declared legally insane"

"I'm not insane if anything I'm the sanest person on this planet" Bruce retorted

Jack laughed maniacally "You?! Sanest man on earth?! Oh please!" Jack wiped a tear from his eye as his laughter died down "You speak very highly of yourself don't you, as if the sanest man on earth would dress up like a bat every night!"

"I am strong, I can resist all the therapy and drugs you pump into me" Bruce said

"Oh I think we'll skip all that bull shit and go straight to shock therapy with you"

"Oh yay, I love electrocution! It's like a massage for your brain!" Harley squealed in excitement.

"See? Harley seems excited why aren't you?"

"You cannot break me, I am the night…"

Bruce was interrupted by Jack laughing "Do you know how fucking stupid you sound when you say that?! You're only confirming everyone's suspicions of your insanity"

"I'm not insane!"

"Sorry to break it you ya Bruce but you kinda are, I mean who willingly dress up like a bat?" Harley said

"Exactly Harley, Keep this up and I'll consider letting you help" Harley squealed with happiness.

They arrived at arkham Bruce was dragged thought the door, he never thought that he would be the person being dragged and Joker the one admitting him to Arkham, it was wrong. Jack pushed Bruce into the rec room where all the other inmates were but left him restrained.

"My dear inmates, this is my good friend batman. You guys can have as much fun with him as you want" Jack said leaving the room, he stopped at the door way "But don't kill 'im" he slammed the door leaving the room.

Jack stood behind the one way mirror grinning as he watched the inmates beat up the helpless Bruce Wayne. "Now that batman's out of the way, we can have some fun"


	4. Our little secret

Over the next two months there was chaos and anarchy all over the city. Once the word that Batman was now helpless got out every criminal in Gotham was no longer afraid of the dark knight. The body count was becoming staggeringly high, stores were closing after being robbed, homes were abandoned by people who were lucky enough to leave the city in time and other homes were nothing but piles of rubble after attacks. The destruction was endless and what tortured Bruce the most was that he was completely helpless. Some of the criminals even turned themselves in just to get into Arkham and beat Bruce. Harley was still locked in Arkham with him, Bruce tried to charm some sense into her but all he got back was a slap to the face and multiple inmates in the immediate vicinity joining in. It was obvious the visits Harley got with Jack to were a little more intimate then the staff knew due to the fact Harley would come back into the rec room flustered and fixing her clothes. Every day she believed would be the day that Jack, or the Joker, would let her out and join in the mayhem that Gotham was now engulfed in.

What confused Bruce the most was that there was no news on the Joker joining in on the action outside even thought it was his doing. Bruce thought that life couldn't get any worse from now on, daily beatings and abuse, being dragged down the halls he once walked with authority. He was sitting in his usual corner in the rec room as Harley talked to Ivy who had just been recaptured. A pair of orderlies walked over to him, one holding a strait jacket "Wayne, you have a visitor" one muttered as the other applied the jacket, Bruce didn't resist because fighting against them would only confirm their accusations of his sanity.

He was dragged down to the visiting room, the booths were empty as expected. Most of the inmates in Arkham didn't have family, either the family didn't want to see them or they had killed their family, usually it was the latter. Bruce sat down in the booth he was lead to and his heart instantly dropped when he saw Jack who was leaning back in his chair cleaning his nails with a switchblade "Evening Brucie" he exclaimed looking up at him with that crazy look in his eyes.

"You!" Bruce growled through gritted teeth.

"What exactly do you mean by 'you'" he asked mocking Bruce's voice.

"You put me in here" he glared.

"Oh no, you did that all by yourself" he replied "Dressing up as a bat, fighting crime like the asshole you are and even beating up the poor innocent crazies. How does it feel to be on the other side for once? Being beaten everyday, being watched even while you're taking a shit? Don't you worry you get used to it"

"What are you trying to prove?"

"You know what's funny? I don't even know" he chuckled "I've only been making things up as I go along! I don't even know what's gonna happen next! Maybe I'll kill a couple of kindergartners" He shrugged.

"You sick bastard"

"And you know the best part?" he asked but Bruce just glared back at him "I get conjugal visits with Harley" He replied as burst into a fit of laughter.

This seemed to anger Bruce the most "Don't talk about my girlfriend like that"

"Sorry pal but she aint yours no more but tell me, was she ever really yours to begin with?" asked leaning back on the back legs of his chair "Well I had her in here just a minute ago and she described all the weird fetishes and fantasies she imagined while I was gone and I can tell you now that they weren't of you" he chuckled "she said she wanted me to get the rubber chicken and…" This drove Bruce over the edge, he lunged at the window in between them to an effort to attack him but just slammed into the unbreakable glass glaring at Jack but this didn't cause Jack to laugh. Bruce then realized why, because Jack knew that the guards would come to take Bruce back to the rec room and bursting into maniacal laughter would look quite suspicious. The guards did come and once again restrained Bruce and began to drag him away, Jack called after him from the booth in a once again normal voice "I hope you get better soon Master Wayne"

"Don't lie to me you maniac!" Bruce continued to curse Jack until the door to the room was closed and silence fell among the visiting room, Jack stood up smiling to himself and fixed the buttons on his suit jacket.

Commissioner Gordon walked into the room after hearing the cursing that Bruce had directed at Jack "Are you alright Mr Napier?"

"Yes, just a little shaken" He said nodding to Gordon.

"Any idea what set him off?" Gordon asked.

"Somehow he has found out my romantic relationship with his previous partner Harley. He believes that I have seduced her again"

"Yeah those two were really close until….wait…did you say again? The only person who has ever seduced Harley Quinn was the Joker and that's exactly who you're accused of being"

"That is untrue and quite frankly offensive" Jack said fixing his collar.

Gordon looked up at Jack who was quite a bit taller than he was and notice the top of what seemed to be a tattoo on the side of Jacks neck, it was the top of a card. Gordon reached up to pull down Jack's collar more "What is that?"

Jack pushed his hand away pulling his collar up to cover his neck "I suggest you keep out of others business. Goodbye" Jack said and left.

Gordon stared after him before rushing to the wing of the asylum that kept the records of its inmates. He looked through the files for hours until he found the Jokers file that seemed as thick as his head and as heavy as a brick. Gordon opened it and rushed through the contents until he found the Jokers mug shot. The Jokers smug face stared back at Gordon dressed in a white singlet and a jumpsuit hanging off his hips holding a sign. It read _Name unknown Joker Inmate 0801._ Gordon continued to survey the picture and sure enough the Joker has the four cards tattooed on the lower part of his neck exactly where Jack had it "Looking for something?" a familiar voice said from the doorway.

Gordon looked back to see Jack standing in the door "Your the Joker!" Gordon accused.

Jack sighed as he approached Gordon "You know Commissioner Boredom" Gordon noticed that his voice had changed dramatically into the Jokers voice "You've been very rude. Now whats to be done about that?" Jack asked leaning into Gordon.

"You'll pay for putting this city's hero in the asylum" Gordon growled.

Jack gasped "Oh really, I don't see anyone here to stop me. I know you can't"

"I should have been suspicious ever since you started dating Harley. Only a god damn madman would date her"

"Wow, now that's just rude"

"I'm going to put you behind bars, I know you're the Joker now"

"Oh come on Jimbo, I'm really not in the mood for torturing people today. How bout we just keep this our little secret or I'll put you in the asylum too" Jack said before he left Gordon sitting in a pile of scattered papers from his file.

* * *

Sorry I re posted this chapter a few times, had to do some editing


	5. Who he was

Week passed by and there was still no sign from the Joker. Bruce was beginning to worry, whenever the Joker spent a long time not committing crimes it means he was planning something big but in the visiting room he had admitted to Bruce that everything from the start wasn't planned. Gordon had come to visit Bruce a few days ago to talk to him about Jacks real identity and promised to arrest him the moment he slips up. They were watching the cameras 24/7 and they had doubled the amount of guards at the asylum. Bruce was once again sitting in the common room battered and bruised watching the TV as he always did, waiting for the moment a Joker related crime was reported but it never was.

Meanwhile in the lobby of the asylum Jack was being searched for weapons and suspicious objects, strangely he stood there and didn't say a word or show any kind of objection to the search. Dr Leland and Gordon were watching him from a distance "Doesn't act like The Joker" Leland stated.

"Trust me he is The Joker" Gordon said narrowing his eyes at Jack.

"Look Jim, I know you were close to Batman and that you're not happy with seeing him in Arkham and it seems like believing him is your coping mechanism"

"No, Napier admitted to me himself he is the Joker" he hissed "He has the tattoos to prove it"

"Well Mr Napier is not a patient here and so far we have no solid evidence to support Wayne's accusations. So as far as Napier is concerned he is entitled to his privacy"

"You can't actually believe this guy!"

"What are you going to do Jim? Go in there and strip the poor man of his clothes?" Leland yelled.

"At least let me question him" Gordon said trying to control his anger.

"I'm not the one you need to ask" Leland said gesturing to Jack.

Gordon reluctantly walked over to Jack "Morning Mr Napier, could we by any chance ask you a few questions involving Bruce Wayne's accusations?"

"Of course, commissioner" Jack nodded "I'll do anything to help"

"Yeah sure you will" Gordon muttered leading Jack and Leland into a room with a table and three chairs, they all sat down, Jack on one side and Leland and Gordon on the other.

Jack sat very formally with his back straight and his hands neatly folded on the metal table between them. Leland looked at Gordon sceptically until Jack spoke up "Is this about Master Wayne's accusations?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it is" said Leland "If you have any objections to the questions you are asked you have the right to not answer then"

"Leland, this is a matter of life and death and you're giving him the right to pick and choose the questions he is asked?" Gordon objected.

"Yes because that's a human right for any person being questioned" Leland responded.

"That thing is not a human!" Gordon yelled pointing at Jack but Jack surprisingly stayed silent.

"Jim Gordon!" Leland yelled back "You either stay here and act like a civilised human being or you can leave and let me do the questioning" Gordon calmed down and nodded to Leland to let her begin the questioning "Now, Jack" she said turning to him "Are you in anyway related to the Joker?"

"Not that I know of. If so, distantly" he replied calmly.

"So you don't deny that you may be related to him?" Gordon asked leaning in with interest.

"Well there's always the possibility isn't there?"

"Yes there is" Gordon replied.

"Ok, do you have any form of criminal record?" Leland asked.

"No"

"Have you ever been diagnosed for mental illness?"

"No"

An hour later Leland and Gordon had gotten nowhere, all of the answer to the questions pointed to the conclusion that he was not the Joker. To Gordon's annoyance Jack had stayed calm and rational the whole time, while Leland was about to asked another question Gordon interrupted "Take off your shirt" he demanded.

This seemed to make Jack agitated "W…what?" he stuttered.

"Take off your shirt" Gordon repeated.

"I really wouldn't feel comfortable…" Jack began.

"There's no way around this, not this time. Take it off"

Jack reluctantly stood up and began unbuttoning his jacket "Jack you don't need to…" Leland said before Gordon pulled her back and watched Jack intently. Jack sighed as he pulled of his jacket and undid his tie letting it hang around his neck. Leland and Gordon watched as Jack slowly unbuttoned his shirt revealing his pale chest covered in the Jokers tattoos.

Gordon immediately reacted drawing his gun and pointing it at Jack "Put your hands on your head and get down" he ordered and Jack obeyed calmly "You're arrested for almost every crime under the god damn sun" Gordon said as he applied handcuff to him "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?" Gordon said as he reviewed the Miranda rights.

"I do" Jack replied.

"With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?"

"No"

A few hours later Gordon had announced to the public that Jack was indeed the Joker and that he would be locked up in Arkham again for good this time "Good luck with that" Joker had chuckled. The crowd had started booing and Joker laughed even louder "Wow aggravating a homicidal maniac that sounds like a brilliant idea" and the crowd had immediately fell silent. After Joker had been put in Bruce Wayne's old cell Gordon, Batman and the GCPD had all gathered in the police headquarters to celebrate the capture of the Joker and apologise to Batman.

"It alright, at least it's all over now" Batman said

"I don't think we could ever express our apology enough, it's amazing that you got out of there alive considering that you put most of the people in there" Gordon said as he stood up and held Batman's arm in the air "To Batman, Gotham's greatest hero" Gordon announced holding up his beer in the other hand and the whole room cheered for Batman.

One of the forensic scientist came into the room in the midst of all the celebrations with a distressed look on their face "Guys…guys!...GUYS!" she yelled over all the noise and the room fell silent "I know how The Joker got away with pretending to be Jack Napier even through all the DNA tests"

"How?" Gordon asked

"Because Joker is Jack Napier" she announced and the room looked at her in confusion "They're the same person! The Joker's real identity is Jack Napier!" she yelled and the whole room looked at her in shock.

Gordon remembered a small boy coming into the station years ago after his own parents were murdered, no older than nine years old. Gordon was only a rookie but the case was one of the most violent he had ever seen:

 _My lieutenant brought the boy into the room and sat him down on one of the desks, everyone turned their heads to look at the poor child who was staring at the floor with wide eyes. The boy was covered in blood from head to toe and the lieutenant ordered one of the men to get some new clothes and then asked be to come over to him._

" _Yes sir?" I asked._

" _I need you to help me on this case and catch whoever did this" he replied._

" _Yes sir" I answered "What happened?"_

" _We walked into a house where one of the neighbours had called the police, the place was covered in blood. The two parents were on the floor with hundreds of stab wounds and the floor was covered in a good two inches of blood and this kid had been sitting in it for the past two days. Poor little guy, he must be traumatised. It was a god damn massacre and this poor kid had been left there to starve to death"_

 _I turned to the boy who was staring at the floor still and kneeled down so I was in his line of sight "Hey kid, whats your name?"_

 _He looked at me for a while and stayed silent before answering "Jack…" he stopped to sniff "Jack Napier"_

 _I nodded as the other men came to take to child to get cleaned up "I hope he's gonna turn out ok. No kid should see something like that if anyone at all" lieutenant had commented as the Jack and the policemen turned the corner. The case had never been solved and the child was transported to a mental facility for post-traumatic stress,_

The name also brought back memories to Batman that he didn't want to be reminded of:

 _I had arrived at ace chemicals where there was a supposed robbery going on, there were three men still in the plant two of them had been shot and the other was backing away from me down the catwalk over the vats "S…stay back. Don't hurt me!" he pleaded._

 _At closer inspection I realised that this was the man who I had returned to the Gotham Mental Institution after he had escaped three months ago, he had been sent there after a traumatic experience as a child and after I heard what had happened to him, I considered it nothing near the trauma I experienced as a child. A couple of days ago I had been notified that he had been kidnapped from the hospital by the two men who had been shot in the plant but I didn't know they had taken him here with them "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you" I said trying to comfort him._

" _I know what you do to people so you better just stay back!"_

" _Everything will be alright, we're going to walk out of here and get you back to the hospital"_

" _I don't want to go back!"_

" _Ok, we'll just leave and figure it out" I said as I finally reached him._

" _No!" he screamed as I reached out to him, he had backed away from me too far and was now on the edge of the platform. I tried to grab him but I was too late and he fell into the chemicals._

Both men stood there in shock, all of the GCPD were staring at them expecting them to say something but instead of saying anything…both of the men fainted.

 **END**

* * *

 _I hadn't really focused much on the relationship between The Joker and Harley as I was originally going to but I thought that it'd be better to focus of his past instead. Sorry if that was a bit of a disappointment, also if you'd like to see this continued in a different story more focused on the Joker past please tell me. And I'm sorry that the Joker being arrested was so sudden and you thought it could be more detailed. Hope you enjoyed the ending._  
 _-Eric_


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